On Ian Hacking’s and Judith Butler’s social constructivism. The case of “youth” in the sociological studies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present Judith Butler’s and Ian Hacking’s considerations in relation to the constructed nature of social classifications and their relationship with the social subjects that are classificated, as well as the dynamics of these constructions in a critical key. These author’s epistemological guidelines are used to explore the basic consensus in sociological studies about the category of “youth”. Towards the end of the document -as an excursus- a few exploration guidelines are proposed connecting Ian Hacking and Niklas Luhmann.